Joan of Arc Biography Part 17

By Jules Michelet The Maid of Orleans

The first article tduched the capital
point, submission. She replied as before, " Well do I believe that our
Holy Father, the bishops, and others
of the Church, are to guard the Christian faithf and punish those who are
found wanting. As to my deeds
(faits), I submit myself only to the
Church in heaven, to God and the
Virgin, to the sainted men and women
in Paradise. I have not been want
ing in regard to the Christian faith,
and trust I never shall be."

And, shortly afterwards : " I would
rather die than recall what I have
done by oiir Lord's command."

What illustrates the time, the uninformed mind of these doctors, and
their blind attachment to the letter
without regard to the spirit, is, that
no point seemed graver to them than
the sin of having assumed male attire.
They represented to her that, accord
ing to the canons, those who thus

change the habit of their sex are
abominable in the sight of God. At
first she would not give a direct an
swer, and begged for a respite till the
next day ; but her judges insisting on
her discarding the dress, she replied,
" That she Was not empowered to say
when she could quit it." - "But if
you should be deprived of the privi
lege of hearing mass?" - "Well, our
Lord can grant me to hear it without
you." - " Will you put on a woman's
dress, in order to receive your Saviour
at Easter?" - "No; I cannot quit
this dress; it matters not to me in
what dress I receive my Saviour." -
After this she seems shaken, asks to
be at least allowed to hear mass,
adding, "I won't say but if you
were to give me a gown such as the
daughters of the burghers wear, a
very long gown, . . ."

It is clear she shrank, through mod
esty, from explaining herself. The
poor girl does not explain her posi
tion in prison, or the constant danger
she was in. The truth is, that three
soldiers slept in her room,* three of
the brigand ruffians called houspleurs ; that she was chained to a beam
by a large iron chain, almost wholly
at their mercy; the man's dress they
wished to compel her to discontinue
was all her safeguard. . . .

*Five Englishmen; three of whom stayed at
night in her room. {Houspleurs, is to worry like a
dog hence the name houspleurs). Notices des
MSS. ill. 506.
She slept with dongle chains round her limhs,
and closely fastened to a chain traversing the foot
of her hedy attached to a large piece of wood five or
six feet long, and padlocked, so that she could not
stir from the place." - Ibidem. Another witness
states : '' There was an iron beam, to keep her
straight (erectam), Proces MS., Evidence of
Pierre Cusqnel.

What are we to think of the imbecility of the
judge, or of his horrible connivance ?
Besides being kept under the eyes
of these wretches, and exposed to
their insults and mockery,* she was
subjected to espial from without.
Winchester, the inquisitor, and Cauchon had each a key to the tower,

* The Count de Ligny went to see her with an
English lord, and said to her, " Jeanne, I come to
hold you to ransom, provided you promise never
again to bear arms against us." She replied :
Ah I my God, you are laughing at me ; I know
you have neither the will nor the power." And
when he repeated the words, she added, '' I am con
vinced these English will put me to death, in the
hope of winning the kingdom of France. But
though the Godons (Goddens) should be a hundred
thousand more than they are to-day, they would not
win the kingdom." The English lord was so en
raged that ho drew his dagger to plunge it into her,
but was liindered by the earl of Warwick. Notices
desMSS. iii. 371.

Not precisely Cauchon, but his man, Estivet,
promoter of the prosecution. (Ibid. iii. 473.)
and watched her hourly through a
hole in the wall. Each stone of this
infernal dungeon had eyes.

Her only consolation was, that she
was at first allowed interviews with a
priest, who told her that he was a
prisoner, and attached to Charles
Vllth's cause. Loyseleur, so he was
named, was a tool of the English.
He had won Jeanne's confidence, who
used to confess herself to him ; and,
at such times, her confessions were
taken down by notaries concealed on
purpose to overhear her. ... It is
said that Loyseleur encouraged her to
hold out, in order to insure her
destruction. On the question of her
being put to the torture being dis
cussed (a very useless proceeding,
since she neither denied nor concealed
any thing), there were only two or
three of her judges who counselled
the atrocious deed, and the confessor
was one of these.

The deplorable state of the pris
oner's health was aggravated by her
being deprived of the consolations of
religion during Passion Week. On
the Thursday, the sacrament was with
held from her : on that self-same day
on which Christ is universal host, on
which He invites the poor and all
those who suffer, she seemed to be
forgotten.*

On Good Friday, that day of deep
silence, on which we all hear no other
sound than the beating of one's own
heart, it seems as if the hearts of the
judges smote them, and that some
feeling of humanity and of religion
had been awakened in their aged .
scholastic souls: at least it is cer
tain, that whereas thirty-five of them
took their seats on the Wednesday,
no more than nine were present at the
examination on Saturday : the rest, no
doubt, alleged the devotions of the
day as their excuse.

On the contrary, her courage had
revived. Likening her own suflFerings
to those of Christ, the thought had
roused her from her despondency.
She answered, when the question was
again put to her, "that she would
defer to the Church militant, provided
it commanded nothing impoaaitHeJ^ -
" Do you think, then, that you are not
subject to the Church which is upon
earth, to our holy father the pope, to
the cardinals, archbishops, bishops,
and prelates?" - " Yes, certainly, our
Lord served." - " Do your voices for
bid your submitting to the Church
militant?" - "They do not forbid it,
our Lord being served firsV^

This firmness did not desert her once
on the Saturday : but on the next day,
the Sunday, Easter Sunday 1 what
must her feelings have been? What
must have passed in that poor heart,
when the sounds of the universal
holiday enlivening the city, Rouen's
five hundred bells ringing out with
their joyous peals on the air,* and the
whole Christian world coming to life
with the Saviour, she remained with
death !

* Compare the statement, given above, as to the
deep impression made on her bj the sound of bells.

Summon up our pride as much as
we may, philosophers and reasoners
as we boast ourselves to be in this
present age, but which of us - amidst
the agitations of modern bustle and
excitement, or, in the voluntary captivity of study, plunged in its toilsome
and solitary researches, which of us
hears without emotion the sounds of
these beautiful Christian festivals, the
touching voice of the bells, and, as it
were, their mild maternal reproach?
- . . Who can see, without envying
them, those crowds of believers issu
ing from the Church, made young
again and revived by the divine table ?
. . - The mind remains firm, but the
soul is sad and heavy. ... He who
believes in the future, and whose heart
is not the less linked to the past^at
such moments lays down the pen,
closes the book, and cannot refrain
from exclaiming "Ahl why am I
not with them, one of them, and the
simplest, the least of these little children ! "

What must have been one's feelings
at that time, when the Christian world
was still one, still undivided I What
must have been the throes of that
young soul which had lived but on
faith? . . . Could she who, with all
her inner life of visions and revela
tions, had not the less docilely obeyed
the commands of the Church; could
she, who till now had believed herself
in her simplicity " a good girl," as she
said, a girl altogether submissive to
the Church - could she without terror
see the Church against her? Alone,
when all are united with God - alone
excepted from the world's gladness
and universal communion, on the day
on which the gates of heaven are
opened to mankind - alone to be excluded . . .